Quality Education in Public School

[Dhurba Shrestha]

Quality Education in Public School
We hear different voices about the quality of education. But quality
education is a relative term and is school specific. But there are
some common characters, which everyone has to follow. We often define
quality of education in terms of pass rate of students. Our practice
is if there are 90 students in grade nine, we pass only 60 students.
Among those 60 students, 30 students are stopped at test examination
and only 30 students appear in SLC examination. Among the 30 students,
20 pass in first division and rest in second and third division and we
say my school achieved 100% result. We provide quality education. But
what we miss in the shadow is 66% children. Have we ever thought of
this??? Or we just ignore this fact? This business must be stopped.
Nobody has right to play with the future of any child. Every child is
special. Count Every Child Because Every Child Counts. So what is the
solution???

Focus in Grade One instead of SLC result
Government has introduced liberal promotion up to grade seven based on
continuous assessment system (CAS). But how many of us (the teachers
and schools) follow it? School and teachers have ready made answers
and the answer is, the number of student is huge and it is not
possible. The government has also given another solution of remedial
classes to the poor student. Again the teachers have another readymade
answer and the answer is teachers are insufficient. We are all aware
that many of us recommend coaching and tuition when a child is going
to appear SLC exam. But, a common question to all; do we refer this to
grade one child? Do parents recommend their grade one children go to
extra classes in the morning or evening? Many of the parents including
we feel that expense to education especially in lower grades is a
waste rather than an investment.

Why focus in Grade One?
1. Right based approach: Grade one is often neglected. Resources are
used for upper grades because they can not speak nor they can demand.
They are vulnerable and it's our duty to preserve their rights to
education.
2. Foundation of quality education: If you want to make your home
strong, the base of your home must be strong which we call the
foundation. Similarly, grade one is base for the formal education. If
a child achieves all the learning achievements at grade one, study for
him at grade two becomes easier. This continues for each and every
grade. This is also the foundation of quality of education.
3. It is their first experience, pay attention to them: Formal
education starts from grade one. So grade one must be welcoming. What
you do when you are in your relative's home as a guest and s/he does
not pay attention to you? Of course, you decide to leave that home
early and you think twice before coming to that home again. Does this
do not apply to the children? 32% of the children that enroll in grade
one leave school before completing a year. So, what counts is the
attention. So pay attention to grade one children. Count each child
because every child counts.


Dhurba Shrestha
Ganesh Secondary School
Baglung